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Background Diet-related health messages often use scare tactics and negative imagery. However, they show limited effectiveness. Improving these messages is important to prevent further increases of obesity rates and consequential sicknesses. When designing a health message, image choice and wording are central. Controversy revolves around the use of stigmatizing images. Body weight influences the effect of stigma on the participants, and detrimental effects are observable in individuals with overweight. Wording has to be concrete but not too forceful. Methods In this study, female subjects (N  = 162) saw a stigmatizing versus non-stigmatizing health message with forceful versus non-forceful wording (2 × 2-design). Effects on a virtual food choice task (healthy versus unhealthy), diet intentions and concerns to be stigmatized were assessed. Results In the non-stigmatizing and non-forceful condition, participants made the highest number of healthy food choices. In the two stigma conditions, higher body mass index correlated with higher concern to be stigmatized, highlighting the adverse effect a health message can have. Conclusions In a female student sample, a non-stigmatizing and non-forceful text had the most positive effect on healthy food choices without evoking concerns to be stigmatized. This should be considered when promoting a healthy lifestyle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Current theories and nosology assume that the self-evaluation (SE) of individuals with eating disorders (EDs) is unduly influenced by body shape and weight. However, experimental data supporting this link are scarce, and it is not specified which subdomains of SE might be affected. Method. We studied patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and healthy controls (HC) with an affective priming (AP) procedure (Study 1) to unveil explicit and implicit associations between shape/weight and SE. We used weight/shape-related prime sentences, complemented by affectively congruent and incongruent target words from two SE domains. AP effects were assessed by event-related potentials (ERPs), reaction times (RTs) and subjective ratings. The ratings were also assessed (Study 2) in undergraduate restrained (RES) and unrestrained eaters (UNRES). Results. Study 1 demonstrated stronger AP effects in both ED groups compared to HC on RTs and subjective ratings. ERPs showed AP effects only in the BN group. Restrained eaters showed similar, albeit less pronounced, priming effects on subjective ratings. Conclusions. ED patients associate shape/weight concerns with the non-appearance-related SE domains of interpersonal relationships and achievement/performance. These associations seem to be encoded deeper in BN patients relative to the other groups. Links between shape/weight and SE explain how body dissatisfaction impacts on self-esteem and mood in ED. The existence of similar associations in restrained eaters supports a continuum model according to which increasing associations between shape/weight and SE go along with increasing levels of ED symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. It has been suggested that temperaments such as 'hypomanic personality' (HYP) have an explanatory role in affective disorders. Similarly, the impulsive nonconformity scale, originally designed to assess psychosis proneness, was recently found to augment the prediction of manic episodes. Conversely, research indicates that 'rigidity', a central feature of Typus Melancholicus (TMEL; von Zerssen, 1996), may characterize the premorbid personality of depressives. Design. The present study combines these three scales to prospectively predict manic and depressive symptoms diagnosed 2 years later in a non-college student population. Method. Structured clinical interviews for DSM-IV were conducted with 114 individuals (60% female, mean age = 19.9 years), 2 years after an initial screening. Results. It was found that none of the predictors predicted purely depressive symptoms. As expected, HYP emerged as the strongest predictor of (hypo-)manic symptoms. Conclusions. While rigidity did not predict depression, people with a hypomanic temperament are at risk of developing symptoms of bipolar disorder, especially (hypo-)manic ones. It is noteworthy that this was evident in our young sample, still in the earlier stages of the high-risk period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]